Saturday, 13 November 2010

More about China Mieville's EMBASSYTOWN

"Embassytown: a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe.

Avice is an immerser, a traveller on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here on Arieka, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the natives, the enigmatic Hosts - who cannot lie.

Only a tiny cadre of unique human Ambassadors can speak Language, and connect the two communities. But an unimaginable new arrival has come to Embassytown. And when this Ambassador speaks, everything changes.

Catastrophe looms. Avice knows the only hope is for her to speak directly to the alien Hosts."

Mieville will also be undertaking an American tour for the book, visiting New York, Washington DC, Boston, Seattle and Portland. I'm also hearing that Mieville's entire backlist is going to be repackaged in the UK with new cover art.

Embassytown will be published on 6 May 2011 and will be 432 pages in hardcover (not 208, as is being listed in some quarters) and tradeback.

8 comments:

I've read the first chapter of Embassytown, as it was included in a little taster booklet given out at the Tor event in Derby last week.

The style reminded me of Kraken at times; the prose is more similar to that than the Bas-Lag novels. The chapter doesn't give a lot away, and it's impossible to really get a feel for the book as it's pretty short.

I'm not sure if all of Mieville's backlist is getting new artwork, though I know for sure that the Bas-Lag novels are. I seem to recall Tor mentioning that they're going to mark the release of the artwork somehow, but can't recall how (or indeed whether they said that at all).

Hey Wert, any clue on the specifics of that signing tour? I know he's in New Hampshire tonight, and then POOF! No info anywhere. Let me know if you could, please. I have the last 4 novels waiting to be signed. :D